


A Recipe for Disaster

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Characters, Brownies, Dadrien, Domestic Fluff, Gen, Married Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, kitchen disasters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22479508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Adrien wants to surprise His Lady with brownies for dessert. Will it go better than last time? Will Plagg help? Will Emma let him work?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100
Collections: THEME: Civilian





	A Recipe for Disaster

"Shh, Emma… Daddy's here." Adrien cooed at his sleepy daughter as she squirmed in her crib.

Emma looked up at him with big, round, green eyes, and stretched a bit before settling her hands next to the tufts of blonde hair on her head. She smiled - or was that gas? - and closed her eyes.

Adrien waited until her breathing slowed before lightly backing away from the crib. Unlike his wife, Adrien was almost as agile as a civilian as he was as a superhero: years of fencing and learning how to move gracefully on a catwalk honed his abilities. He silently shut the door behind him and strode down the hallway to the kitchen.

"She asleep again?" Plagg was busying himself around the kitchen.

"Yes, thankfully. We're going to come in right under the wire to get this ready before Marinette gets home." He smiled. "And trust me, she's going to _love_ it."

"She wasn't so amused the last time you made dessert…"

"Shh, Plagg, that was last month! She's bound to have forgotten by now! Besides, not everybody was raised in a bakery. They can't _all_ be perfect."

"Yeah, but you cook like you were raised in a -"

"Look, Mister Floating Stomach, make yourself useful or get out of here." He waved a wooden spoon at Plagg.

"You certainly don't need _my_ help in here. I'll be around the corner if something happens, though." And with a dramatic _flounce_ \- how did he even manage that? - Plagg left the kitchen.

Adrien pulled out the recipe book, squinted at it, and frowned.

* * *

"OK, first things first - I need to turn the oven on this time. To the correct temperature." While Marinette had enjoyed his attempt to make brownies, sitting on the couch enjoying raw batter together wasn't as rewarding as he had imagined. He turned the dial on the oven to 4. "OK, now what… butter, sugar, eggs… I'll just get those and put them on the counter…"

He moved like a frenzy throughout the kitchen, giddy with excitement that he would make Marinette happy. It's not that Adrien didn't want to take his time; it was that he wanted to have everything _perfect_ for his Lady when she got home.

An egg rolled off the counter and shattered on the floor.

Adrien swore gently under his breath.

"Doing OK in there, kid?" Plagg called from the hallway.

"Yeah, doing great, thanks!" He glanced down at the yolk running over the kitchen floor tile. He'd have to clean that up… but not yet. It was better to get everything made and in the oven, and that way he'd only have to clean the kitchen up once! Marinette would be home in about 45 minutes, and that was plenty of time to make brownies and clean up… right?

"OK, butter. Melted butter. Let's see… 170 grams." He carefully sliced off the correct amount of butter, put it in a bowl, and tossed it into the microwave to melt. "Last time it took forever for this to melt, so I'll just set the timer for a few minutes more than usual… oh, shoot! I have to melt some of this chocolate, too. I'll just grab this butter… _oww!_ "

He made a hissing noise as he grabbed the bowl from the microwave and hot butter sloshed on his fingers. He gently set the bowl down on the countertop and made a mental note to not do that for next time. He quickly - and carefully - chopped up some chocolate and added it to the bowl.

_Last time I rushed chopping things Chat Noir would have gotten accidentally declawed_. He smirked to himself, then used a towel to pick up the hot bowl containing the butter and chocolate mixture and put it back in the microwave. He glanced at the sugar on the countertop and shrugged. _It's getting mixed in there anyway, might as well do it now. Besides, I'm running short on time *and* I'm hurt. Better play it safe._ He measured the correct amount of sugar and added it to the bowl, then closed the door and hit Start.

He went to the pantry and got the large bag of flour to set on the counter, and unfortunately slipped on the broken egg, causing him to reverse the open bag of flour all over himself and on the floor. He sat down and shook as much of the flour off as possible, then peeked into the bag to see if there was enough left. He sighed and tilted his head back. He would have laughed, except the last time this happened to him… well…

He had done a little catwalk ( _snicker_ ) to where Marinette was sitting in the living room and announced, "Look, Bugaboo! I'm _Chat Blanc!"_ He had put on his most winning smile, but Marinette quickly changed the subject and suggested he go shower while she fixed "whatever it was he was trying to do".

Oh well.

The microwave beeped, and he sighed and slowly stood up. He grabbed his towel, wiped the flour away from his eyes, and got the bowl out of the microwave. He stirred everything together, then added the eggs and vanilla extract. He carefully measured the flour, cocoa powder, and salt, then stirred those into the batter. Adrien poured the batter into a pan and placed the pan in the oven, knocking it against the side of the door.

He looked around at the mess he had made and thanked his lucky stars that he had a half-hour or so to clean up before Marinette got home. But first… he had to change his clothes and shower. No sense cleaning when you were leaving white dust and footprints everywhere.

* * *

Emma was restless.

Daddy was _just_ here, and next thing she knew, he was gone all of a sudden.

_That_ wouldn't do.

She took a deep breath, trying to force words out of her mouth. Words that would tell her daddy how much she loved him, how much she wanted him back in the room, holding her, singing to her, and gently bouncing her around.

She opened her mouth and called for Daddy.

* * *

" _Plagg!"_ Adrien called from the bathroom.

"I knew it! You couldn't get through another dessert without my help… not that you _need_ my help destroying things, it looks like you're doing a good enough job on your own…"

"Ha ha, Plagg… no, can you check on Emma, please? I think she's crying."

"I am _not_ your babysitter! Five thousand years of helping humans do all sorts of amazing things, and I'm reduced to looking after a small child. What would the other kwamis think?"

"The other kwamis don't have to know how cute you think she is."

Plagg's ears flattened. "Fine." He floated down the hall and phased through the nursery door.

* * *

_Oh!_ Daddy sent his special friend! The one that made faces and silly noises and sometimes played hide-and-seek in Daddy's ring so Daddy could play dress-up.

Daddy's friend came closer and was singing something. It didn't matter what. Emma was just glad someone was here to keep her company.

She grabbed Daddy's friend out of the air and pulled him close, sticking his ear in her mouth.

Daddy's friend was _vibrating!_ So soothing.

Emma drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

Adrien dried off, got dressed, and returned to the kitchen. The first thing he needed to do was clean up the egg he slipped on earlier… no, the flour. No, he should load the dishwasher and get it going so Marinette didn't come home to a full sink.

He shook his head to clear the mental overload that was threatening to derail his surprise. He grabbed a broom and swept the floor, being careful to not smear the egg any more than it already was.

He bent down to sweep the flour into a dustpan, and scooted around as he tried and tried to get the last bit of flour into the dustpan. After finally succeeding, he stook up quickly and banged his head on the countertop. Trying to keep the dustpan level in the midst of the rapidly-spinning room, he stumbled over to the trash bin and threw the whole thing away, spilling about a quarter of the mess onto the floor again. At least it was kind of near where it was supposed to be.

Adrien winced and rubbed the back of his head, squinting his eyes shut until he was certain that the room had stopped spinning.

He sprayed the floor with cleaner and got a handful of paper towels to deal with the egg. As he squatted down to scrub the mess, the timer above the oven dinged.

Already? Oh, no!

Adrien dropped everything and scrambled to the oven. He opened the oven door, reached in, then remembered he needed a towel or oven mitt before he touched the hot pan. He grabbed a towel from the sink and plucked the pan from the oven.

Heat from the pan transferred through the damp towel and Adrien yelped, dropping the pan on the counter. He sucked on the ball of his hand while he searched the drawers for a toothpick. Coming up empty, he gingerly poked at the center of the brownies with his finger to judge if they were completely cooked.

Not done, he decided. And back in the oven they went… assisted by a dry towel, this time.

He had just closed the oven door when he heard the jingle of a keychain and the scrape of a key in the front door.

* * *

Marinette walked into their apartment and tossed her purse on the couch. Sniffing the air, she followed her nose into the kitchen. "What... oh, no."

"It's Adrien Agreste, International Cat of Mystery in charge of dessert tonight!" Adrien peeked up from the kitchen countertop, where he was scrubbing at what looked like... a burn mark?

How the countertop got burned while making... um... "The only mystery here is what you've got in the oven... but judging from the mess, let me guess: brownies again?"

"You know me so well, my Lady."

"How did you... you know what, don't ask. Did Plagg try to help again?"

"I resent that!" came a voice from the nursery.

Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes. She tiptoed through spilled flour, steadied herself as she slipped on the egg that never got cleaned up, and crept across the floor to boop her silly Kitty on the nose.


End file.
